Chapter 7 Terminology

Question 1

Archaeological Culture

Answer 1

A regional manifestation within a culture area marked by a particular set of material cultural traits.

Question 2

Assemblage

Answer 2

A collection of artifacts of one or several classes of materials (stone tools, ceramics, bones) that comes from a defined context, such as a site, feature or stratum.

Question 3

Attribute

Answer 3

An individual characteristic that distinguishes one artifact from another on the basis of its size, surface texture, form, material, method of manufacture, and design pattern.

Question 4

Component

Answer 4

An archaeological construct consisting of stratum or set of strata that are presumed to be culturally homogenous. A set of components from various sites in a region will make up a phase.

Question 5

Functional type

Answer 5

A class of artifacts that performed the same function; these may or may not be temporal and/or morphological types.

Question 6

Morphological Type

Answer 6

A descriptive and abstract grouping of individual artifacts whose focus is on overall similarity rather than function or chronological significance.

Question 7

Mousterian

Answer 7

A culture from the Middle Paleolithic (Middle Old Stone Age) period that appeared throughout Europe after 250,000 and before 30,000 years ago. Mousterian artifacts are frequently associated with Neanderthal human remains.

Question 8

Period

Answer 8

A length of time distinguished by particular items of material culture,such as house form, pottery, or subsistence.

Question 9

Phase

Answer 9

An archaeological construct possessing traits sufficiently characteristics to distinguish it from other units similarly conceived; spatially limited to roughly a locality or region and chronology limited to the briefest interval of time possible.

Question 10

Space-time systematics

Answer 10

The delineation of patterns in material culture through time and over space. These patterns are what the archaeologist will eventually try to explain or account for.

Question 11

Temporal type

Answer 11

A morphological type that has temporal significance; also known as a time-marker or index fossil.

Question 12

Type

Answer 12

A class of archaeological artifacts defined by a consistent clustering of attributes.

Question 13

Typology

Answer 13

The systematic arrangement of material culture into types.